教你发美音Course #1 LESSON 5: AMERICAN VOWEL PRONUNCIATIONS

IN THIS LESSON THE TAPE TEACHES YOU THE AMERICAN PRONUNCIATION OF SEVEN IMPORTANT VOWEL SOUNDS. YOU WILL LEARN TO PRODUCE THESE PRONUNCIATIONS IN COMBINATION WITH THE PITCH AND MUSCULARITY STYLES YOU ALREADY LEARNED.

I told you earlier how important it was to learn American intonation and muscle styles before doing pronunciation drills. Well, the time has come. You're now about to begin studying the actual American pronunciations of vowels and consonants. PLEASE REMEMBER TO KEEP USING THE TWO SKILLS YOU JUST LEARNED. If you forget to use the American muscle style and the JUMP UP and STEP DOWN intonation, it's unlkely that you will ever come close to native-sounding pronunciation.

The five American diphthongs, or double vowels, are the best examples of why you must continue using verything you've already learned when trying to correct your pronunciation. In order to sound like they're coming from a native speaker, these sounds must be produced with both downward pitch movement and a lot of muscle work in the rear tongue. In other words, each of these sounds must be made with the QUICK AMERICAN GLIDE you just studied in the last lesson. Follow the instructions on the tape closely. Repeat the sounds, words, and sentences which are modeled on the tape. After each of the five sounds, stop the tape. You'll find additional words and sentences for that vowel printed in the manual. Try using the same techniques on those additional drills, even though they are not modeled for you on the tape.

There are two vowel sounds that exist in very few languages other than English. They are the vowels in the words "cat" and "sun." Follow the directions on the tape for the correct pronunciations of these sounds.